The Bills have elected to take the internal route regarding their head coaching position. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has been promoted to the role, as first reported by Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. 
The news is now official, per a team announcement. This is a five-year agreement, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini adds. After a nine-year run with Sean McDermott at the helm, the Bills will hope a familiar first-time head coach will be able to get them over the hump in the postseason.
Once McDermott was fired in the wake of Buffalo’s latest divisional round loss, Brady was named as a logical replacement candidate the team knows well. Indeed, the Bills showed interest in former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and ex-Josh Allen teammate Davis Webb while weighing their options. All three have received looks elsewhere on the market, but instead of departing Brady has elected to remain in place and take over Buffalo’s staff.
Brady interviewed twice with the Ravens and Raiders for their HC vacancies. He also arranged an in-person meeting with the Cardinals, but that will not take place. A promotion always loomed as a strong possibility in this case, and after working in Buffalo the past four years Brady will now take on a head coaching position for the first time in his career by remaining in a familiar spot.
The 36-year-old spent two seasons as a Saints assistant before joining LSU’s staff for 2019. Brady’s work with the national champions that year drew attention based on the Tigers’ remarkable offensive production and boosted his coaching stock to a large extent. It immediately landed him an OC gig with the Panthers. Things did not go according to plan during Matt Rhule‘s Carolina tenure, but Brady did not need to wait long to find a new opportunity once his two-year Panthers run came to an end. He joined the Bills in 2022 as their quarterbacks coach.
Ken Dorsey was in place as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator at the time. That remained the case until midway through the 2023 campaign, when Dorsey was fired. Brady took over for the remainder of the season and stayed in place as the team’s play-caller through 2024 and ’25. During his two full years as an OC, Buffalo ranked second and then fourth in the NFL in scoring. The Bills also posted top-10 finishes in total offense under Brady.
Expectations will no doubt remain high for the team on offense with Brady still in place and a core highlighted by Allen under contract. Buffalo remained strong as a rushing team this past season, but struggles in the passing game proved to be an issue. The Bills will presumably aim to bring in at least one notable pass-catcher this offseason, but in the meantime Brady will now turn his attention to building a staff.
An OC replacement will need to be sought out, with a decision on whether or not Brady will call plays being required as well. Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich remains in place at this time; Babich has worked as the team’s DC for the past two years but his Buffalo tenure dates back to 2017. It will be interesting to see how much Brady prioritizes experience as opposed to seeking out external options over the coming days.
As part of the decision to move on from McDermott, Bills owner Terry Pegula elected to promote general manager Brandon Beane to president of football operations. That elevated Beane’s standing in the organization and no doubt increased his sway during HC interviews. Allen also had input in the head coaching decision, and the coordinator in place from his 2024 MVP season will remain in the organization moving forward.
Candidates with a wide range of coaching experience interviewed with the Bills in the aftermath of McDermott’s dismissal. Other highly-regarded staffers such as Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak may have also received a look, but Buffalo was not eligible to speak with him until after the Super Bowl. Instead of waiting for Kubiak or any other external candidates, Pegula and Co. have decided to promote from within.
Wasn’t my first choice. 🤔
Mine either
Well… You can bet this move wasn’t made without Josh Allen’s thumbs up.
Well now Nate Scheelhaase can go to Cleveland……
Arizona? Las Vegas?
Wow. Talk about uninspiring.
My guess is this is a short term band-aid and the search starts again next year unless there is some kind if ridiculous success.
Yeah, it’s uninspiring to have a top five offensive line, a top five scoring offense, to have cut down Allen’s turnovers greatly, and one of the best rushing attacks in the league, all things that weren’t true before he took that job over, and this while having by everyone’s estimation less talent than when they legit had the best roster in football when Daboll was calling plays.
You can nitpick any play caller. Lion fans were nitpicking Johnson a year ago. Did he or did he not score 30 ppg since he took over, and that’s apparently with no WRs according to fans like you. Number one rushing game. Cut Allen’s turnovers way down. OL went from a liability to one of the best in the league since he took over the offense. Scored more than enough for a competent defensive coordinator to win the three playoff losses he’s been in charge of the offense.
Also – did you watch any games?
Genuinely curious.
@Bills1: Yeah, man. It’s clear that dude doesn’t watch the Bills or know anything about them. All my Bills fan friends hate this move. Bills fans have been calling for Brady and Beane’s jobs all year and both of them get promoted. It’s crazy. Hope it works out but what an underwhelming hire. Especially when I was reading that they didn’t even request and interview with Kubiak.
Wait. You actually comparing their roster in 2020, 2021 to what they’ve had the last two years he’s been on the job full time? Furthermore, you actually think Ken Dorsey was a good OC. If you do, there’s no further reason for me to talk to you. Especially since I said nothing about their scoring improving a lot in those years but rather that the rushing, offensive line, and Allen’s turnovers going way down improved on his watch; whereas they were a problem under Daboll and a major problem the year and a half under Dorsey. My first comment on this was how much more efficient Allen and the offense were under him. They were one of the only offenses in the whole league with positive EPA for both their passing and rushing offense and had the highest EPA for both, which literally means they were highly efficient and balanced. But I guess the “eye” test or how you feel is better than cold hard facts. It’s like a Raven fan comparing the Raven offense under Greg Roman to the Raven offense under Todd Monken.
Who would have inspired you, Aaron Rodgers?
short term bandaid on a 5 yr deal?
Fire the incompetent coach and replace him with the incompetent OC. Josh Allen should demand a trade from this clown show
incompetent OC? based on…
also Allen I’m sure had say in this as widely reported
Had the number two and number four scoring offense in football allegedly with no receivers according to everyone, but he’s incompetent. Developed one of the best OLs in the league when that was a major weakness under Dorsey and Daboll. but yep, he’s incompetent. Fans are stupid. It wasn’t his offense that gave up 33 points last weekend to Denver while scoring 30.
Joe Brady is definitely the reason for that and not the fact that he had the best QB in the league and a top 5 RB. Praising Brady for being better than two other awful OCs doesn’t make him good. The Bills defense was their biggest problem but this should have been a clean house situation. Keeping Beane and Brady around will only lead to more of the same
What exactly does the QB have to do with the offensive line and rushing game going from being nonexistent to literally the best in the league? Also, why was he a turnover machine under Dorsey and McDermott but turned into an efficient passer under Brady? Because according to you, Allen coaches himself and socres all the Tds, runs the ball, blocks for himself, and plays defense too.
Congrats to Joe Brady on improving the Bills O-line. Maybe he’ll make for a great O-line coach in a couple years when he’s inevitably fired. Allen being a great runner himself and the emergence of James Cook as an elite RB probably has something to do with that strong run game. You’re putting words in my mouth with that last bit of drivel so I’m not even gonna bother there. You’re oddly defensive of Joe Brady. Are you related?
I’m allegedly related to every coach on these comments because I point out the truth. So your answer is that the offense has been the problem why you lost in the playoffs the last three years? Furthermore, who did you want? Kubiak doesn’t seem interested. Allen’s best friend Webb who has never run anything in the NFL? Who? Name a name. Eudinski might have been a good hire, but that was probably left up to your QB who allegedly does everything on his own, so blame him.
Your lack of reading comprehension is on full display. My overall point is that Bills should have cleaned house entirely and instead they promote Beane and Brady to higher roles. I’m also not a Bills fan and never claimed to be. If I was would I want Allen to demand a trade? Kubiak can’t take interviews while the Seahawks season is still going. Even if he wasn’t interested, anyone from outside the organization would be a better option than Brady
My comprehension is fine. I’m just not emotional over a football team. You seem to have that problem. They didn’t clean house. You knew this two weeks ago when they fired Bean. So again, who did you want? You want to fight with the Cardinals, Raiders, and Browns over who they’re going to hire? Ravens basically did the same thing, bringing back the guy who was intimately familiar with their org. You wanted Harbaugh, or you one of the fools who wanted Stefanski. McDaniel, whose players walked over and whose team was worse in every aspect than yours? Kubiak hasn’t taken a second interview with anyone. He might not want a job htis year like Ben Johnson in 2024. Again, who did you want. Name a name.
@realfootballfan: “Had the number two and number four scoring offense”
The Bills had the number 2, 3, and 2 scoring offenses in football in the three years prior to Brady becoming OC. Just accept that you don’t know anything about the Bills, don’t watch them, and just look at stats. Then move on, because you don’t have a clue here.
“Had the number two and number four scoring offense in football allegedly with no receivers according to everyone, but he’s incompetent.”
Well, they also had the number passing defense in the league, and you said that their coach was incompetent, so I don’t know why those stats matter in this scenario whereas they didn’t matter in the other.
“It wasn’t his offense that gave up 33 points last weekend to Denver while scoring 30.”
Actually, it kind of was. Allen had four turnovers (Cook had one of his own). Brady either called the decision to go for it at the end of the half, or calked the plays that led to the fumble at that point. Buffalo lost by three. His offense entirely deserves blame for that loss. Watching the game, the defense certainly played better, given how often they had to come on after a turnover.
To add, Denver scored 13 points off those turnovers in a game that Buffalo lost by 3. I suppose you’d say that the defense should not have given those up, but the score without those points is firmly in Buffalo’s favor at 30-20. 20 points given in a playoff game to one of the best rosters in the league is definitely reasonable. Demanding anything less than that is pushing a point rather than looking at the game empirically.
You should blame the QB who allegedly does it all on his own for that. Everyone agrees he stunk in that game. It wasn’t the play calls. Before that, he hadn’t turned the ball over in the playoffs since Brady has taken over as OC. Another cold hard fact that bothers you people, lmao.
I actually don’t have an issue with Brady. I do blame the QB. The difference between us is that I don’t blame McDermott for it.
Who else should you blame for it short of turning over the whole roster of players? He’s had seven cracks at it and not only hasn’t gotten it done but hasn’t come close, and often times in these losses, he had the better team. I said it last week, it was ironic that it happened now since this one was least on him. Thirteen seconds, the blowout at home to the Bengals, the no show in the AFC championship game in 2020, all these things happened on his watch. You people need to stop taking the bait and taking sides with their agents and media friends and just look at this stuff objectively. It’s like when Marty Schottenheimer hadn’t won a playoff game in 15 years and had a superior team to the Patriots but still choked at home to them. These coaches aren’t entitled to these jobs. If they can’t get it done, next man up. Every one of them understands this reality. Don’t let people’s friendships and putting that nonsense in your head cloud what you think of the situation. He should have just kept his mouth shut instead of trying to throw people under the bus still there on his way out and kept it moving. He’ll get another job, probably two more before his career is over. Learn what he did wrong the first time around and get better.
Whoever called the play to not kneel at the end of the half cost us the game. Even if Allen doesn’t fumble there, what was the point?
That’s purview of the HC. That’s football 101.
Allen having a say is part of the problem.
Good hire.
Unbillievable, actually after that press conference who are we kidding. What a downgrade, so disappointing
what would have been an upgrade in your mind?
That’s the problem-despite some people’s arguments that McDermott was awful, there aren’t many. If you see that happening, then you probably fired the wrong coach.
A new owner
The offense hasn’t been the problem in Buffalo the last three years. He saved McDermott’s job in 2023.
I’m a die hard bills fan who has watched every single snap of every single game and I happen to agree with your analysis. For what it’s worth. The biggest move here is going to be the defensive coordinator. Bills fans should be focused on that now as well as Beane having to bring in some real horses. All eyes are on him now, the hottest hot seat.
Rumored to want Leonhard on Bronco staff. Packer fans have wanted him for years since he was at Wisconsin, including this last cycle when they hired Gannon. Cowboy fans wanted him. Several other teams wanted him as their DC. Was coveted in college too for everyone’s DC spot. Very good hire if it happens. Just because he was on McDermott’s staff doesn’t mean he would have done everything or even anything the same.
I take it to mean that someone who was on McDermott’s staff had the benefit of learning from a very talented man how to go about running the nuts and bolts of an operation that was consistently excellent and professionally organized. Beyond that, every man is his own man. The mentee is going to be who he’s going to be. I want no part of Bobby Babych sticking around.
“The offense hasn’t been the problem in Buffalo the last three years. He saved McDermott’s job in 2023.”
It hasn’t been a problem the last six years. Don’t cut it off to when Brady started because it was one of the best offenses in football that he took over. The idea that Brady “saved” McDermott’s job is not based in reality. Josh Allen is the reason the offense is great, not Joe Brady. Any actual Bills fan will tell you that Brady’s play calling hinders the offense; it doesn’t enhance it. I wonder if you’ve ever seen a snap of Bills football.
The offense absolutely was a problem in the playoffs under Daboll and Dorsey outside of the 2020 13 second game, and even that game, it took until the fourth quarter for dopey Daboll to figure out they could have thrown all day on the Chiefs with Allen, Diggs, and Davis. They no showed in the Bengal game. They no showed in the 2020 AFC championship game. Yes, let’s not cut it off to just the last three years since it makes my point even stronger, or maybe you think those offensive performances were acceptable. Ten whole points at home against the freaking Cincinatti Bengals. Tell Sean we said hi, Mrs. McDermott.
not surprised by this hire, but 5 years and the timing means he likely had an offer from another team pending.
That’s pretty standard for a contract in this cycle. He should have been higher on other team’s lists, but everyone likes shiny and new. Webb and Schilhasse have never even called plays or run an offense. Kubiak didn’t even seem interested. Minter was locked into Baltimore. This ws the logical fit. The only other one I could see is Eudinski because he has an impressive presence with the requisite experience, and I’m sure it came down to Allen preferring Brady.
Our condolences.
Seems like it’s change for change’s sake.
Yeah, because McDermott didn’t get seven cracks at it.
Yeah, neither did Beane.
For his sake he better not crap the bed. Ownership expects a SB and if he can’t deliver he’ll be out of a job in 2-3 yrs
Because they desperately needed a change but also didn’t.
Joe Brady: “Hey Terry, I was thinking of hiring Sean McDermott as an assistant coach…you okay with that?”
Josh was just hired as oc
Lemon be careful. Apparently when you say something the Bills fans don’t like they report you to the censor deity they remove all your posts about them. They seem very touchy about losing I guess. LOL
Oooof! Glad I’m not a Bills fan today.
And every Jets fan is grinning like the Cheshire cat.
Why? Because you’ll have another #1 pick a year from now?
Because there’s turmoil within the AFC East and it’s not coming from Florham Park.
Your HC just pretty much fired his entire staff on both sides of the ball, lol. Just because Woody isn’t being stupid in public doesn’t mean turmoil isn’t coming from the Jets. You can assume that’s going on anyway.
No matter how poor a choice Bills fans think this is, Brady’s promotion still guarantees two wins over the Jets next season.
That’s rich, coming from someone whose team had his head coach gone 36 hours after losing in Denver in the playoffs.
Uh Chucky – how is that a coherent response?
I mean, I understand you wanna dunk on the Bills, but you are terrible.
Maybe sit this one out fella.
I really want to give you and your owner a hard time about using Madden ratings to build a team… but… at least he has a plan. Terry just went half cocked on this whole thing.
What?
Haha! Nice. I actually thought about that after I posted. Touche Oooof, touche.
I can’t resist.
I would have waited and chose Kubiak. Brady has done a good job, not great. They can run and throw, but not with precision. The offensive line is more powerful than athletic. It goes as Allen goes and he will run rather than waiting for secondary receivers to get open. He has gotten away with it, but once he finally has an injury or slows down, he will have to rely on his passing skills, release and decision making even more. We will see if Brady can get the defense even better.
Kubiak didn’t seem that interested for whatever reason in them or the Ravens. He doesn’t seem very interested in any of these jobs to be honest, which is understandable since most of them are dumpster fires.
How bout they replace the gm who has only 2 pro bowlers in his 56 draft picks
You’re right. Should’ve drafted Shedeur Sanders and they’d have 3!
Lmao, the Pro Bowl thing is hillarious since it’s largely meaningless these days. Roster is very good. You don’t win 12/13 games a year because of coaching in 2026. Bill fans must miss the Doug Whaley and Buddy Nix days.
That’s fine I guess? Unlike a lot of Bills fans here, I don’t hate Brady. They complain about the lack of WR production being his fault, but it’s tough when you don’t have a single legit downfield receiver. His offense has been consistently awesome for two years with only the Houston loss standing out as a complete disaster. Houston crushes every offense.
I’m fine with it I guess, he just hasn’t struck me as particularly inspiring or a commanding a presence… at least what I saw in hard knocks. He doesn’t seem to have crazy great charisma.
Well hope for the best… Go Bills!
No one is blaming Brady for a lack of WR production, just for the predictable bubble screens and making JA play Superman to make his OC look good on paper. I guess we can expect to double down on that mentality for the next two years until the owner finally cleans the whole house (GM included).
What else were they supposed to call without having any receivers?!?! Ya know? All we had to work with was Shakir and bubble screens is what he does best. Give him a receiver or three and I’m sure he would have called something downfield. No one got open all year…. Josh just sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to separate… I don’t know what else he could have called.
I don’t know, maybe give the ball to your league leading RB or QB on 3rd and short, or get your solid group of TEs in play? In some games he used that same play 3-4 times in a row for no gain, especially against the Texans (after the first two times went for a loss).
Those tight ends have to be healthy to be involved. Its been a problem.
They literally led the league in rushing.
So no one wanted the job lol
Bingo
I actually predicted this if you check out the article where McDermott’s firing was announced 😁 I just figured they would hate to see him go succeed elsewhere when they could have just kept & promoted him.
Kincaid has regressed. Coleman has not developed. Cooper took a nose dive while Diggs and Hollins have left. Shakir is good but stays too close to the line of scrimmage. Cook had a great year but Johnson and Davis went backwards.
Brady can coach, but this offense still has flaws.
Hollens was on the team this year. He didn’t run Diggs off. Diggs figured their window was closed and asked out. Also, the offense didn’t change from the system they used under Daboll when he took over, and historically, it’s hard to find receivers for it, see the the Patriots for the last decade until they signed Diggs. Brady is a Sean Payton disciple at his core, so now that he’s free to run what he wants and not what the HC told him, maybe he’ll return to that as the principles and change things up. Sean Payton as your mentor isn’t too shabby.
Hollins went to NE. Playing in the SB along with Diggs.
Mixed him up. But it’s another example of a guy who knew that system and why it’s working in New England while you guys can’t develop them. It’s a hard system to develop for. Pittsburgh had the same problem for years before Arians got there. The system was McDermott’s choice. Brady inherited it. You can hope he changes it to what Payton runs so you get more production out of your receivers because that’s his background he comes from. These are the differences a guy might make as HC that he couldn’t autonomously make as OC.
“Mixed him up.”
More like you don’t watch the Bills or have any idea what their offense is about lmao. You don’t even know who’s on the team.
Sure, buddy. The Bills have been some obscure team that no one watches but you because you’re a super fan, lmao. I don’t have the insight you have. You thought Ken Dorsey was a good OC and that Sean McDermott deserved a crack at another bone crushing defeat in the playoffs because he’s entitled to it.
Btw, acting like Mac Hollens is the difference maker that would have gotten you over the top is funny in itself. I’m sure the Raider fans are lamenting letting him go after his great year there. The missing piece. Same fan base that whined about Gabe Davis leaving for a year and now taking a dunk on him since he came back and sucked.
Disagree on kincaid. WHEN he was healthy he was terrific. Our only legit intermediate threat. The problem is he’s never healthy.
You’d better be careful. He watches the games harder than the rest of us, lmao. Kincaid was literally one of the best TEs in the league when healthy, but dude said he’s regressed.
Its a completely different offense when Kincaid is on the field, and he only really runs out there 8 to 12 yards from scrimmage. Imagine what an actual deep route receiver would bring to the table.
Its true, injuries have held him back, but he still doesnt catch passes like he used to. Maybe the play calling doesnt target enough, or defenders cover him better, or Allen simply goes to other people more, but we can all agree, when Kincaid is catching over 60 passes a year, the offense is much better. His stats were better this year compared to last year, I erred on that, but hopefully next year, he will have more catches.
Mind you, remember there were several Bill fans here who wanted to hire a loser like Kevin Stefanski, but the guy with a top five scoring offense on their own team isn’t good enough.
If Stefanksi was the Bills OC the last three years and Brady was the Browns HC during that time, who would be the loser and who would have the top five scoring offense?
Stefanski would still be the loser because his offense has sucked outside of the one year the Vikings went to the NFC championship game. Might want to take a look at how they did even when the roster was stacked when he got there. But nothing was ever little Kev’s fault in Cleveland why he couldn’t make things work with a couple of franchise QBs when he got them or a number one and number two receiver, better offensive line than the Bills had when he got that job or a way better RB than they had when he got that job. He was just twiddling his thumbs in the corner. I can do this all day.
An uninspiring hire. Does he have leadership qualities that vastly exceed those of Sean McDermott? I doubt it. He’s got a good offensive mind, but you already had that working for you as the OC.
But at least it’s not Daboll.
The only reason I wasn’t in favor of Brady is because he doesn’t strike me as charismatic or cerebral or commanding in any particular way, but I really think your take on his offense is off the mark. Imagine for a second that you’re dealt a hand consisting of absolute garbage at the WR room, complete dog crap, literally nothing of any redeeming value at all, and yet you still have the fourth best offense in the league.
Screens and dinks and dunks, it was awful to watch at times… it makes you think the stats don’t matter… but they do! What else was Brady supposed to call other than leaning hard into Cook and Shakir screens? It sure looked better when Kincaid was there, but he’s also never there! When they did try to air it out, Josh would sit there and wait and wait and wait for someone to get open who never did. 40 some sacks this year… Yet they still hung about 29 a game. The offense was great under insanely bad circumstances.
I’ve said it a million times, Beane committed malpractice with the receivers. I’ve said he should be fired for two years now. It’s just easier to fire a coach I guess. Harder to rebuild a scouting department, etc
It’s going to be fine. They’ll win 12/13 games next year again. I assume Beane is going to be VERY busy this offseason. His job is on the line. Somehow AJ Green or someone comparable is going to be here. There will be upgrades with the pass rush. The O-line won’t be as good, Beane better draft well there. It’s going to be ok. The problem was always the defense and the defense was Sean’s side of the ball. Let’s see who the DC is going to be before deciding anything
Don’t be so cocksure. The Buffalo schedule for 2026 goes division round robin, AFC West, NFC North, Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles Rams. Eight games vs. playoff teams in that bunch.
We’ll see! That’s why they play the games!! Schedules mean nothing though at this point. We haven’t hit free agency, the draft, camp, the hundreds of injuries between now and then. So long as Josh is good to go, I’m not betting against him.
What about Ben Johnson, Kyle Shanahan, or Nick Sirianni come off as charismatic or cerebral? Shanahan can’t even string two sentences together sometimes in his press conferences, and Sirianni sounds like a buffoon a lot of times. Ben Johnson sounds like a smart aleck. All of them can coach though.
The funny thing is that New England literally made a carbon copy of the Bills the past few years including taking two of your receivers that know the system, and are going to the Super Bowl with it.
And Buffalo will be happy for both Mack and Steph. What’s your point?
Lies and slander! Im happy for Mack. Steph can go snort some more pink stuff.
Steph was massively important in Josh’s development. He was great for us. I wish we had had him this season.
Jim Leonhard rumored as targeted DC hire for him. Literally has been coveted since he was at Wisconsin to be someone’s DC, but the Bill fans who wanted guys with thin NFL resumes know better. Couldn’t think of a more opposite coach to McDermott’s vanilla defensive scheme, but yep, it’ll be more of the same.
Can he play WR?
If Brady ditches that Erhered-Perkins system, maybe you’ll find some. Another thing your old HC insisted on. Brady doesn’t come from that system in his background. He tutored Jamar Chase in college.
I am 64 years old and all I asked God for is to see the Bills win a Super Bowl before I die.
Apparently I am going to live forever
Understand, when they do win, The Apocalypse follows shortly after.
I think it would be fun if they hired McDermott to be their new OC…
The replies to this are amazing.